The Green Bank Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc. We also partner with many organizations and schools to advance research and discovery in the field of radio astronomy.
National Science Foundation
The NSF built the Green Bank Observatory and funded its operation for more than 50 years. Today the NSF still owns the facility and funds part of the operation of the 100-m GBT for “open skies” science.
Breakthrough Listen
Breakthrough Listen is the largest ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth. The GBT plays a key role in the Breakthrough Listen project, and roughly 20% of the time available on the GBT is dedicated to this research.
NANOGrav
The North American NanoHertz Observatory for Graviational Waves, or NANOGrav, has members drawn from across the United States and Canada. The GBT is a key instrument for the NANOGrav experiment, and it spends roughly 5% of its time monitoring pulsars to look for gravitational waves.
West Virginia University Center for Astrophysics
West Virginia University (WVU) has a rapidly growing research and teaching group within the Department of Physics and Astronomy which explores a wide variety of hot topics in current astrophysics. WVU time on the 100-m Green Bank Telescope is used by professors and students to pursue their own research projects and interests.